This disclosure relates to error detection in an integrated circuit device by distributing starts of configuration memory reads temporally and/or spatially across an integrated circuit.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it may be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Programmable logic devices are a class of integrated circuits that can be programmed to perform a wide variety of operations. A programmable logic device may include programmable logic elements programmed by a form of memory known as configuration random access memory (CRAM). Thus, to program a circuit design into a programmable logic device, the circuit design may be compiled into a bitstream and programmed into CRAM cells. The values programmed into the CRAM cells define the operation of programmable logic elements of the programmable logic device.
As such, any change in the values stored in the CRAM cells can affect the operation of the operation of the programmable logic device. Yet the values stored in the CRAM cells may change undesirably under certain conditions, such as by device tampering or single event upsets (SEUs). Single event upsets occur when ionizing radiation strikes (e.g., from cosmic rays) discharge the charge in the storage of the CRAM cells. As programmable logic devices increasingly include higher densities of CRAM cells, single event upsets are becoming increasingly more common.
To confirm that the CRAM cells contain proper values, and thereby confirm the desired operation of the programmable logic device, it may be desirable to occasionally read the values stored in the CRAM cells. Reading the CRAM cells draws power, however, which could introduce new errors in the form of noise or jitter on the power distribution network. Moreover, if the jitter or noise on the power distribution network work grows too large, the jitter or noise could cause the values stored in the CRAM cells to become corrupted or disrupt other features of the device.